Files get created by Unix as 666. Then the umask get's applied. So the maximum file creation can only be -rw-rw-rw (666) minus the umask. If 000 is the umask then nothing changes. If the umask is 777, then the file becomes ----------.

It's kind of a nice feature to have files that get created as not executable. Why? Think of a virus. Think of an exe in windows. You get sent and exe in windows and it runs, period. The cool thing about unix and linux is that the virus won't be executable from the start, you have to tell it to become executable. It's really a nice security feature.

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